Richard Madden is the star to watch after Golden Globe win
A surprise Golden Globe win has suddenly elevated Game Of Thrones alumnus Richard Madden into the Hollywood elite — overtaking his former co-star Kit Harington as the Brit to beat.
Move over Jon Snow, Robb Stark has just toppled your crown.
Richard Madden, who played Robb Stark in Game of Thrones until his untimely death in The Red Wedding episode of season three, has just overtaken co-star Kit Harington as the Brit to beat in Hollywood.
The show, which broke records in the UK as the most-watched drama ever with 17.1 million people tuning in to the finale, has also been a hit in the US.
Madden was David Budd, the police bodyguard assigned to Home Secretary Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes, in a tense drama packed with twists and turns.
In his endearing acceptance speech, the Scottish actor said, “I didn’t see this coming at all”, going on to thank the cast and crew and especially co-star Hawes, saying, “She is the best actress I could ever work with”.
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He also name-checked his parents, saying they flew all the way from Scotland to see his first Golden Globe nomination and win.
He later admitted he had not expected to win and wasn’t going to bother writing a speech until his dad said he should, just in case.
So who is the British star on the rise? He grew up in the village of Elderslie, near Paisley in Scotland and admitted he was bullied at school because of his weight.
“I was fat and shy,” he told The Sun newspaper.
“Crushingly shy, going to what was a fairly tough high school. Aggressive, masculine. So I thought the best thing to do would be an actor. Not go and play football or get good at boxing. I’ll go and be an actor!”
It turned out to be a good decision.
After drama school he toured with Shakespeare’s Globe as Romeo and scored roles in TV shows Hope Springs, Sirens and Birdsong.
His big break came as Robb Stark in Game Of Thrones, for which, he told The Times newspaper, “with f**k all on my CV … I was paid f**k all”.
Madden said he was devastated when the character was brutally killed off.
“I wanted to dive out as soon as I could so we did the scene and I jumped on a plane and flew back to London,” he told Jimmy Kimmel.
“But I had a pipe all the way up my leg when we were filming for when I get stabbed and the first time it went really terribly wrong … and all of the fake blood just went pouring out … I managed to get on the plane, covered in fake blood, crying because I was kind of upset. I think I looked like I’d murdered someone then got on a flight.”
He should have saved his tears because his career was about to take off.
After landing the romantic lead in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella opposite Lily James, it was his role in Bodyguard, written by Line Of Duty’s Jed Mercurio, which would make him the man of the moment.
He is next appearing as fellow “Paisley Buddy” as the town’s residents are known, John Reid, Elton John’s manager, in the biopic Rocket Man released later this year.
Madden’s career has rocketed too, with his name being touted alongside Idris Elba as a candidate for the next James Bond and Hollywood casting agents lining up to offer roles.
There is also expected to be a second series of Bodyguard next year.
And while Kit Harington has settled into married life with ex co-star Rose Leslie, Madden is known as somewhat of a heartbreaker, having had relationships with Dr Who and Victoria’s Jenna Coleman, TV presenter Laura Whitmore and model Suki Waterhouse and is now dating 21-year-old British actress Ellie Bamber, who starred in Nocturnal Animals.
Expect to see a lot more from Madden, who has 1.8 million followers on his Instagram site, just as long as his roles don’t include sex scenes, as he says his parents don’t like them.
“I’ve made a few mistakes in my time which is neglecting to tell my mother that there’s going to be a sex scene in a show,” he told Ellen DeGeneres.
“Then I get a hysterical phone call of, ‘You must tell me and your father, I was watching it and I had a cup of tea and I nearly spilled it!’ Now she covers her eyes. It’s not fun for her,” he said.
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